John 1:40-42
We’ve just returned from a
vacation in New Mexico. Visit the
American southwest if you can. It’s a
lot different than Ohio. It always amazes
me that people who see it for the first time should describe it as
“lifeless.” I want to say, “What are you
talking about, it’s full of life.”
Then, too, it’s a meeting
of cultures. In Santa Fe three of those
cultures come together: The already
blended culture of eastern and southern Americans, the Indians, and Hispanic
Americans blend into one culture.[1]
We attended a festival
celebrating the Hispanic heritage and visited a reservation. I’m not going to
review our vacation but I want to draw from the experience to make a
point. Among the Hispanics Christianity
had a strong influence; although there are many Indians who follow “the Jesus
Way,” Christianity has not had a particularly positive impact. We met
a Hopi artist who said “God bless” as we left but the truth is mission efforts
have largely failed this population, though recently there seems to be more
interest in Christianity among younger people.
The problem has deep
roots. Going back to the beginning of
European settlement, both the Spaniards and the English settlers often
mistreated and misused the Indians. That
hurt the cause of the missionaries. Centuries ago, Don Gonzalo, a 70-year-old
Nicaraguan Indian, offered his opinion of Spaniards he had known: “Ultimately,
it turns out that one must conclude that Christians are by no means good.…
Where are the good ones? To be sure, I myself have certainly not yet known any
good ones, only bad ones.”
Over the centuries the
story was the same. Europeans demanded
the Indians become Americanized when they became Christians. It created resentment, especially as
missionaries often worked for the government that regularly lied to the
Indians. No wonder mission efforts often
failed.
Yet they didn’t always
fail.
One church official asked
Indians the reason why they liked one group of friars better than the others.
The Indians replied, “Because these go about poorly dressed and barefoot just
like us; they eat what we eat; they settle among us; and their intercourse with
us is gentle.”
Those willing to leave
their comfort zones often succeeded.
A comfort zone is that
condition in which you are comfortable, content, and secure.
In the New Testament, Peter
exemplifies the power of the comfort zone and the need to get past the
restrictions we place on ourselves because of those comfort zones.
When Peter first met Jesus,
the Teacher from Galilee said something remarkable to him: “You’re Simon,
Jonah’s son, you’re going to be called ‘Rock’.” This was more than a
prediction of a name-change, Jesus was talking about a character
transformation. That transformation was necessary before Peter could
become a Rock, before he could carry out the mission to which Jesus called him
when he invited Peter to follow him: I will make you a fisher of men
As we review Peter’s life
we’re going to see him escape a number of comfort zones. As he does so
we’ll be reminded that a willingness to let Jesus transform us is the key to
being useful to him.
If we follow Peter’s
example we may have to escape those same comfort zones.
We May
Have to Escape the Comfort Zone Called Routine (Luke 5:1-10)
Every evening, for most of
his life, Peter and his partners would set out fishing. This wasn’t
recreation—he wasn’t spending a few hours on the lake so he could kick back and
relax. This was his livelihood; it was how Peter placed bread on the
table. It was hard work, boring work, but it was work he knew.
Then Jesus showed up one
morning following a miserable night and told Peter and his friends, “Launch out
into the deep and let your nets down for a catch.” It was silly.
They fished at night, not in the morning. They fished in shallow water,
not in deep water. Now, this carpenter was telling the fishermen how to
do their jobs. Still, after a brief argument Peter agreed.
They caught more fish than they could handle.
To become a “fisher of men”
Peter would have to learn new skills. Peter knew how to relate to fish
but could he learn how to relate to people? Could he handle a task in
which the scene was always changing?
For many of us our routines
are safe havens—comfort zones. We already know what we are to do
next. The demand-level is low. But success in the Kingdom of
God usually doesn’t attach itself to our comfort zones. What was
successful twenty years ago may not be successful today. We know how to
relate to life-long Baptists, can we learn how to relate to those for whom
church is a place visited for a grandparent’s funeral?
Unless we are willing to
step out of that zone of routine we will never discover what we can do to build
God’s Kingdom.
We May
Have to Escape the Comfort Zone Called Isolation
It was a turning point in
his ministry when Jesus began to predict that he would be crucified in
Jerusalem.
Well, less than a week
later another dramatic moment occurred, event known as The
Transfiguration. Listen to Mark’s account.
2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them
up on a high mountain by themselves to be alone. He was transformed in front of
them, 3 and His clothes became dazzling, extremely white, as no launderer on
earth could whiten them. 4 Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were
talking with Jesus. 5 Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us
to be here! Let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one
for Elijah"-- 6 because he did not know what he should say, since they
were terrified. 7 A cloud appeared, overshadowing them, and a voice came from
the cloud: This is My beloved Son; listen to Him! ark 9:2-7
The Mount of
Transfiguration was the ultimate getaway. Peter, James, and John were not
only free from the stress of the traveling ministry, they had an opportunity to
be alone with Jesus and a couple surprise guests—Moses and Elijah.
Peter realized that the
Mount of Transfiguration was isolated from the ugliness of the plain and the
valley. Down below there were fierce storms on the Sea of Galilee, down
below there were children who were in the grip of the Evil One, down below
there were crosses. Jesus would be with them down below—for a while at
least, but up here they would have all of Jesus and none of the ugliness.
Especially the ugliness called crucifixion.
Peter’s sales’ pitch was
cut short when God interrupted him to say, “This is my Son, listen to him, he
knows what he’s doing.”
In recent years I’ve seen
an isolationist mentality among many Christians. They seem to feel the
safest response to the modern world is retreat. Christian parents
sometimes move far out of the city, trying to isolate their children from what
they consider negative influences. They take their children out of public
schools, thinking they will keep them from encountering any elements of a
non-Christian world-view. Sometimes they even refuse to let their
children go to Christian schools because they convinced such schools are
contaminated.
They, themselves, isolate
themselves from the larger world; they seek safety in a kind of
evangelical ghetto. They forget that light hidden under a basket and salt
inside the shaker does no one any good.
Evangelical women of the
Victorian Age often sought the safety of home and family. The larger world was a scary place. Some of them didn’t. Catherine Booth walked among the poorest on
London’s poor as she and her husband William founded the Salvation Army.
When Mary Slessor died in
1915 she was far from her home in Scotland., in fact for more than forty years
she had lived outside the “comfort zone” of European life. Historian Ruth
Tucker writes:
The story of Mary Slessor, as much as the life of any missionary
in modern history, has been romanticized almost beyond recognition. The
image of her as a Victorian lady dressed in high-necked, ankle-length flowing
dresses, pompously escorted through the African rain forest in a canoe by painted
tribal warriors, is far removed from the reality of the barefooted, scantily
clad, red-haired, working-class woman, who lived African-style in a mud hovel…
In her four decades as a missionary Mary Slessor rescued abandoned
children, befriended outcast women, settled disputes, fought brutal practices,
opened the way to other missionaries, and won the respect of African and
British alike. In fact, she became the first woman vice-consul in the
Empire—all of this because at the age of 27 she was willing to leave her
familiar neighborhood and church to become a pioneer missionary in Calabar,
Nigeria.
She escaped the place of
security, her comfort zone.
Peter, of course, came down
off that safe, secure mountain. He came down off it and began a
pilgrimage of miracle and grace.
We May
Have to Escape the Comfort Zone Called Respectability
You know the story of the
birth of the church on Pentecost, fifty days after the first Easter. The
disciples had been praying in Jerusalem, just as Jesus had commanded. Then,
suddenly, they received the Holy Spirit in fulfillment of the promise Jesus had
made before the crucifixion.
There was the sound of a mighty wind and these commoners, these
followers of a rejected, crucified teacher, began to speak in tongues they had
never learned. In loud voices they cried out praises to God for all he
had done. Even though they were in Jerusalem, the heart of Jerusalem,
even though they were in the shadow of the temple, even though this was a
religious holiday, many onlookers were puzzled by what was happening. As
often happens, there were a few who were convinced they had the answer.
They scoffed, “They’re drunk on cheap wine.”
Now, Pentecost was a feast
day. There would be joyous feasting to celebrate the beginning of the harvest
season, but drunkenness was thoroughly condemned.
When Peter stepped out of
the comfort zone of respectability to participate in the joyous birthday of the
church, he opened himself to unfair and vicious criticism.
Even today, Christians have
to take care how they worship and what they say if they want to remain
respectable in the eyes of observers.
Don’t misunderstand
escaping the comfort zone of respectability is not living scandalously. It’s refusing to let the non-Christian
culture determine how we live.
In the eyes of many, if we
want to remain respectable we must be careful that we don’t show too much
enthusiasm for our faith. It’s fine to have a nominal relationship with
the church but being totally committed Christ compromises our respectability.
We open ourselves to charges of fanaticism.
Of course, guarding our
respectability can rob us of the opportunity to appreciate God’s greatest
gifts, especially the Gift of Himself.
At the same time, if we
want to maintain the comfort of respectability, we have to watch what we
say. We’re told the listening crowd, on that Day of Pentecost, heard
the disciples “declaring the wonders of God.” Have you ever asked what
the disciples were declaring? We’re not told but I wouldn’t be surprised
if some of what they said concerned Jesus Christ, his ministry and
resurrection.
Maybe they spoke of how he
defeated death. Maybe they spoke of how he was the God-appointed way to
salvation. That kind of talk will raise eyebrows in any generation.
In fact, if we would maintain our respectability we should leave that kind of
talk alone.
The problem is, the price
for that kind of respectability is a message which speaks to no spiritual
problem, which has no eternal significance. When the non-Christian
culture and the church are on friendly terms, when the church basks in
respectability, you can be sure that some essential element of the Christian
message is missing from its preaching.
For Peter, celebrating the
greatness of God and proclaiming the gospel of the Risen Christ was worth
stepping out of the comfort zone of respectability.
Frank Tillapaugh challenges
churches to become “the society of gamblers for God.” He writes, “Few of
us are asked to risk our lives, but all of us are asked to risk such things as
friends, reputation, job and security when we follow Jesus Christ. Yet,
whatever the risk, the truth remains that we have nothing to lose more
important than being obedient to the Lord.”
So, the question becomes,
Whose respect will we seek?
We May
Have to Escape the Comfort Zone Called Tradition
I’ve already talked about
routine, which may be the easiest of the comfort zones to leave. How is
that different from tradition? Routine describes how we’ve become
comfortable doing something; tradition refers to doing something because
that way of doing it has been passed on to us. Tradition is much more
rigid than routine.
Peter had grown since the
Risen Christ had challenged his followers to go into all the world to preach
the gospel. But there remained one great comfort zone: the
tradition which was reflected in Peter’s adherence to the Jewish dietary
laws. Those laws—which were linked to Old Testament teachings—had been so
reinterpreted that they were used to forbid any social association with non-Jews.
Even though God gave Peter
a vision to help him see that this was wrong, Peter was still reluctant.
That vision had to be repeated twice! At last, Peter agreed to go to the
house of the gentile Cornelius to share the gospel.
For Peter to go to the
house of Cornelius he had to leave that comfort zone of rigid tradition.
It was tough! Tough, but he did it.
The person who is bound by
such rigid traditions expects to be judged by others; Peter was. The
person who is willing to move out of the comfort zone of tradition must be
willing to say, “I care more about what God thinks of me than what others think
of me.”
Do you have a comfort zone
of tradition? You do if you think God is only interested in people who
are just like you. You do if you think God can only use people just like
you—people who sing like you do, who pray like you do, who read the translation
you read, who dress like you do….
When Mary Slessor laid
aside the heavy Victorian dresses worn by women back home in Britain in favor
of the simple cotton dresses of the Nigerian women some missionaries accused
her of “going native.” Yet, that simple act broke down walls of suspicion
and distrust, allowing her to speak to the Africans as she never had before.
The tradition which had
kept the early Christians from reaching out to the Gentiles seemed to be rooted
in the Bible. It really wasn’t. God had intended the dietary
laws to distinguish his people from the rest of the world, distinguish them so
they could more easily fulfill the task of being his witnesses in the
world. Instead, his people distorted the dietary laws in a way which made
it impossible to be a witness to the outsiders. It took a God-led
traditionalist, who was willing to get out of his comfort zone, to inspire
others to abandon that tradition. But when they did the world was turned
upside down.
Conclusion
There’s a common thread
holding together all these stories from Peter’s life. Each time he was
called to step out of a comfort zone Christ was there to encourage, challenge,
and guide him. We have the same hope.
If we who call ourselves
Christ’s people want to do his work in the world, we may have to leave some of
our cherished comfort zones. Peter left some of his cherished comfort
zones. Because he did his life was transformed. If we’re willing to
do the same, Christ will transform our lives. And, being transformed, we will make a difference.
[1] I’ve decided to use the term “Indian”
instead of “Native American” since the former is a term preferred by many of
those who belong to the group, including activist Russell Means.
